American government lies on the brink of shutdown

Posturing, games and politics left the American government on the brink of shutting down Sunday after the House of Representatives approved a Republican bill seeking to delay President Barack Obama’s health care law.

Congress now has less than 48 hours to strike a deal that keeps the government open, but the ping-ponging of legislation is making that unlikely. Obama has already threatened to veto any bill seeking to halt his sweeping health overhaul.

The House measure funds the government at current levels until mid-December, but also includes a one-year delay of the president’s signature health reforms — dubbed Obamacare — and the repeal of a tax on medical devices.

The bill needs approval in the Senate, where Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid has said it will be rejected.

“Now that the House has again acted, it’s up to the Senate to pass this bill without delay to stop a government shutdown,” House Speaker John Boehner said shortly after the vote. “Let’s get this done.”

The impasse means that the federal government is now dramatically closer to its first shutdown in 17 years, which would require hundreds of thousands of federal workers to stay home.

After hours of raucous debate, the Republican-controlled House approved its own measure just after midnight Saturday, voting largely along party lines.
View gallery.”US House Speaker John Boehner arrives at the House …
US House Speaker John Boehner arrives at the House of Representatives chamber at the US Capitol on S …

Republican leaders set off a political firestorm when they announced Saturday that their stopgap federal spending bill sought to delay implementation of the health care law by one year.

The White House sharply rebuked the move, and warned it was a step toward shuttering federal agencies once the fiscal year ends Monday night.

Reid was uncompromising.

“To be absolutely clear, the Senate will reject both the one-year delay of the Affordable Care Act and the repeal of the medical device tax,” Reid said.

Boehner nevertheless ploughed ahead with the strategy, convening a rare Saturday session as Congress struggled to break the funding gridlock.

Under pressure from his Republican party’s most conservative wing, Boehner doubled down on his caucus’s bid to stop Obamacare.

“The American people will not be extorted by Tea Party anarchists,” said Reid, referring to the ultra-conservative faction of Republicans.
View gallery.”
US Senate Majority Leader Senator Harry Reid during …
US Senate Majority Leader Senator Harry Reid during a news conference on September 12, 2013 in Washi …

He derided the House measure as “pointless” brinkmanship that could end in economic crisis.

Driving the point home, a Senate Democratic aide told AFP that it was “highly unlikely” the chamber would be in session before Monday.

But Boehner warned that if the Senate waits until Monday afternoon to vote, “it would be an act of breathtaking arrogance by the Senate Democratic leadership.”

‘Hijacked’ by ‘extreme folks’

Given the Senate’s likely rejection of the House bill in the waning hours of the fiscal year, a Republican aide acknowledged that a temporary shutdown was the likeliest scenario.

House Democrats, a minority force and largely powerless to stop the Republican legislation, worried that this was a repeat of the 1995-1996 crisis, when a budget deadlock resulted in a 21-day federal work stop.

Democratic Representative David Scott said what was occurring was nothing less than “a shutdown being ordered by the Republican Party.”
View gallery.”
US House Speaker John Boehner (L) arrives at a meeting …
US House Speaker John Boehner (L) arrives at a meeting of Republican members of the House of Represe …

“You have been hijacked by a small group of extreme folks who simply hate this president,” Scott said, breaking protocol as he addressed Republican House members directly.

“The American people are never going to forget that it was you who shut down the government.”

A chorus of criticism, which included centrist Republican senators, accused Tea Party-backed lawmakers of unwisely threatening a shutdown if they did not get their way.

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“As if anticipating a possible shutdown, House Republicans introduced a separate measure that would ensure US troops get paid in the event of a work stop.” …extract from article

No doubt they would do so since their fawning support of the MIC and their terminal love affair with all things military have been the undoing of this nation during the past decade.

Unfortunately “Mr. Change we can believe in” failed to make the necessary sea change to turn this trend about so most of our debt problems are linked to continued squandery of national resources on offshore military adventurism.

His flagship accomplishment according to his fawning supporters is ‘Obamacare’ which when analyzed in depth is a future debt nightmmare in spades that will lead to less quality healthcare than Americans now enjoy. So too it’s causing job and hourly work cutbacks within a host of businesses across this nation due to the healthcare expenses being forced upon them.

So between these two opposing forces of gross negligence and malfeasance in office to serve the American taxpayer well; “We the People” now sit on the precipice of national bankruptcy and humiliation among our national peers.

Sobeit I say. It’s time for this evil ‘dog and pony’ show known as the U.S. Government to suffer self euthanization at their own hand. We won’t be missed and the world can sleep easier without us and our incessant meddling in their affairs. Overnight we’re to become simply another ‘Banana Republic’.

Congresscritters, the Executive and SCOTUS will still get their paychecks regardless of the shutdown. Talk about terminal elitism or what…?! / : |